Iowa City council to vote next month on CA Ventures development agreement

IOWA CITY - Next month the Iowa City Council will hold a public hearing on the roughly $74 million multiuse project planned for the plot of city-owned land at the corner of Linn and Court streets.

The council on Tuesday set a public hearing on July 27 for the development agreement between the city and CASL Holdings, the parent organization of CA Ventures, for the Chicago-based company's RISE at Riverfront Crossings project.

The RISE project will consist of two towers - 14 and 15 floors in height - and include 320 residential units, a 152-room hotel and more than 30,000 square feet of retail and office space.

In the agreement, CA Ventures will buy the roughly 60,000 square feet site for its appraised value of $5.5 million. CA Ventures also will provide the city with $1 million for affordable housing elsewhere and dedicate 10 percent of the RISE building's residential units to affordable housing, meaning for those who fall under 80 percent of the median income.

All apartments and commercial space will be constructed to LEED Gold standards with the hotel portion reaching LEED Silver.

There is no financial assistance being requested by the developer for the RISE project.

Iowa City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes said the closing date on the property sale is Oct. 1 with construction slated to begin no later than Nov. 1. The project has an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2018.

Iowa City staff last summer requested proposals - six were received - for the property where St. Patrick's Catholic Church's parish hall sat until the church, which was across the street, was destroyed by a tornado in April 2006 and the church and parish hall moved.

In 2008 Iowa City bought the land for $3.05 million with plans of building a parking facility on the site, but those efforts never came to fruition and plans are now in place to address parking needs with the nearby Sabin Townhomes project.

Also during Tuesday's meeting, the council approved their support of the Johnson County Community ID program, joining communities including North Liberty and Coralville in rallying behind the program.